Jane Eyre At The Minack

Going to a play at the Minack is terrific, if you prepare yourself. And we thought we had. Tickets purchased, decision made about either cab or car (car won out, cab too expensive), an early lunch sorted (crab sandwich from The Yellow Canary), and large bags with layers and towels and poncho inside. What in the world could go wrong?

                                            

Rain. Real rain - which in the end wasn't actually terrible. We were warm enough, and a little bit jolly because of the laughter the situation perpetuated. We had every expectation to arrive on time, park, maybe buy a more substantial poncho (that sky really was looking grim), stop in the ladies', and situate ourselves in time to enjoy the opening.

We (for reasons known only to us) departed and arrived late, were allowed to park in the disabled parking area, could not stop to buy anything or use the toilets (we might miss something!), and took quite a while getting situated and in our seats. The SconeLady kept murmuring things like, "Good grief!" and "What a mess!" during all of this, but our seats were SO GOOD! right down in front where you could see the whites of their eyes. We could let ourselves get into and involved in the storyline of Jane Eyre.

Mr. Rochester was outstanding. Some Mr. Rochesters are NOT, and make you feel a little squeamish about how they got the role. But this one looked right. He sounded real and gave it everything he had, causing us to believe in him. Jane was - a good Jane. I wish I could have seen her with Helen, because that scene is my favorite and says a lot. We came in just as Helen was (spoiler) dying, and the bedsheets in the school infirmary kept flapping around like ghosts in the rainy Minack wind. It was hilarious because the bedsheets did this a lot, in lots of the scenes. One time Mr. Rochester himself struggled to disentangle them from the clothes line!

Well, all the cast was good, even great. There was an interval during which we could do some of the things we didn't get to do at first, but mostly we looked at each other and laughed. We looked so ridiculous! -caught in the rain and hair all akimbo with saltiness. At the end, everyone expressed their appreciation for the cast being such bricks for putting up with the conditions. And they had another performance in just a couple of hours!

When we got back to the cottage, Ted, who was dry, and warm, and happy, looked at us - who were wet, and cold, and happy - and said, "Turned up like a bad penny again, I see," and we all trouped in and had some fish and chips.

Watching a play at the Minack Theatre was great. Maybe there wasn't a clear blue sky, as when my sister and the Amazing Larry saw the HMS Pinafore with me. But the experience was its own strange self, and all the better we are for it, too.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady